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AMKE: The List 8-17-11

The recall election saga is now over. After six months, the Wisconsin State Senate Recall Elections ended after Democratic Incumbents Bob Wirch and Jim Holperin defeated their Republican challengers. The Republicans will still control the Capitol’s agenda as they hold a 17-16 majority, but with only holding one extra seat, it doesn’t guarantee that Governor Walker and other GOP leaders will get everything they want. Learn more at www.jsonline.com.

The second effort of PCB (Polychlorinated byphenyl) clean up on the Milwaukee River is expected to start soon. Over $20 million will be put into site work that will clean up contaminated areas in Lincoln Creek and the Milwaukee River. That will start at the end of August and it will be completely finished by the end of November. More info is available here.

Marquette’s Haggerty Museum of Art is turning toward the web. It’s putting nearly a quarter of it’s 4,500 pieces of artwork online into a digital collections database. It will have over 300 artists from 29 different countries that you can search through. The new database will open up more opportunity to do research within the museum’s art collection. Want to find out more? Just click here.

President Obama is continuing his three-day Midwest bus tour. He traveled to Iowa yesterday where he focused on the White House Rural Economic Forum. President Obama is headed to Illinois today to speak with a few small communities about boosting the economy, job creation and the effects of national economic policy.

Efforts are underway to get rid of Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan. Sheboygan Aldermen voted earlier this week to spend up to $10,000 for a legal counsel as the first step in removing Mayor Ryan. This all started because Ryan was in the news for drinking, passing out at a bar and involved in a fight. Ryan stated he is the victim of rumors and vowed not to give up his job. More details are available here.

Wisconsin students who plan on going to Minnesota universities in the future will have to pay an additional $1,400 a year. This is part of the new tuition agreement that the two states signed off on. Right now, the state covers the difference for Wisconsin students. The new agreement goes into effect for 2012, so students looking to enroll that year need to be aware. Details at www.wuwm.edu.

2. The Most Dangerous Cities for Walking

Four of the most dangerous metro areas for pedestrians are in Florida, according to a ranking by Transportation for America, a nonprofit group that measures safety on the streets. Milwaukee is on the list, but it's near the bottom of the list at 43. To see the complete list, just click here.

This year the 29th Annual Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival has stretched across two weekends, running October 16-26. This morning festival director and LGBT FILM Grand Puba, Carl Bogner stopped in to speak with the AMKE crew about the...

Gov. Scott Walker signs three new bills today strengthening domestic violence laws, some pertaining to guns. One bill would require domestic violence suspects to report and surrender their weapons within 48 hours of a reported incident....

Political leaders and security forces in Ukraine are still struggling to confront Russian-backed separatists, as pro-Russian militants seized another government building this weekend.
What do 137,000 Wisconsinites have in common? The IRS...